


A Raindrop, a Heartbeat

by thekeyholder



Category: Muse
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Prompt Fill, Rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-30
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-02-15 10:52:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2226369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekeyholder/pseuds/thekeyholder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "How about Dom comforting Matt? Teen!Muse, because I love it. Nothing too serious--Matt's upset. Touching, hugging, holding , kissing. Sweet boys being sweet."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Raindrop, a Heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

> You might like to listen to the piece Matt talks about in the story: [Chopin's Raindrop Prelude](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OFHXmiZP38). It's very soothing...
> 
> Originally posted on my LJ in April 2011.

Dominic looked out the window with apprehension, his flushed face, which was glued to the glass, searching for relief in the cold, shiny surface.  His long blonde  locks stuck to the slightly wet window, the dampening hairs curling at the ends. His panting steamed up the transparent wall and only the parts which were in contact with his hot skin remained unaffected by the air he exhaled. The heavy eyelids closed slowly which Dominic heard as a dull thud; he was so nervous that his senses were overdriven. His heartbeat pounded in his head like an African tribal drum portending an unavoidable war; the majestic magenta spreading on his mental screen like a splash of paint thrown on a white canvas by a frustrated artist.

_ He should have been here an hour ago. He told me he’d drop by at  _ _ four o’clock _ _. _

Dominic’s searching eyes raked across the terrifying maritime landscape: though their house was built high on a rock, he still felt the swaying waves that clashed against the shore. He loved living by the sea, but it was a frightening experience during the late autumn and winter. Everything was bleak and the once-azure sea turned into a dirty, dark green-blue mass of sullen water whose only purpose was to steal hope from people’s hearts and make them as unfriendly as the deserted little town.

Moreover, the rain hadn’t ceased falling since the early morning; this was your typical English rain that had neither beginning, nor end. As if in a world of  watercolours , the tiny drops washed away any proofs that once there was a summer reigning in the world; yellow, orange, red and their nuances disappeared from the palette of autumn. Dominic blinked again; maybe his eyes were tired of gazing so much at the same image and he started hallucinating. He saw some movement in the dist a nce, but those were just some lonely seagulls flying in lazy circles. 

_ I don’t like it when he disappears like  _ _ this; _ _ it means he’s gotten into trouble. I hope he’s all right though, even if he can’t come. Let him be safe, God, please! _

Dominic put his hands beside his head to feel the violent pulsating of the storm through his palms, the outside world reaching him only through the frequent vibrations of the glass. He opened his eyes again and he felt his blood rushing to his face as he noticed a tiny figure approaching the house as he was fading in from the thick,  greyish fog. Was it even possible? The poor boy appeared as a black line moving on the long path leading to the Howard house; his skinny legs had to step forcefully as not to be detoured by the frantic gale. Dominic shook his head to come back to reality; nevertheless, the doorbell still startled him, he completely forgot that his parents went away for the weekend. He hurried to the door and opened it hastily only to find his friend in the worst state he’d ever seen him in.

“Matthew…” the blonde boy uttered anxiously, his eyes moving up and down his friend’s body, taking in the painful sight in front of him.

Besides his best friend being soaked to the bone, Matthew’s canvas shoes were extremely muddy, along the same lines with his old pair of jeans in which he had already worn holes. However, both of his knees were peeking out from huge slits and they looked scraped. _Matthew must have fallen or maybe he slipped on the mud,_ Dominic thought as he noticed the dried stains of dirt on the boy’s palms. He couldn’t understand, though, why did Matthew put on the raincoat (which was at least two sizes bigger than needed) that was so ungainly.

Despite his  dishevelled appearance, Dominic was mostly concerned about the weird expression on Matthew’s face: his pale lips were pressed into a thin line denoting his suppressed anger; he was frowning but the red cheeks and the watery blue eyes spoke of frustration and sadness.

“I didn’t know where to go…” Matthew whimpered, and Dom’s protectiveness awoke upon hearing the helplessness in his friend’s voice. 

The blonde boy rushed Matthew into the house, but first asked Matthew to take off his dirty shoes; meanwhile, Dominic quickly took the wet raincoat from Matthew’s bony shoulders and threw it in the tub. Much to his surprise, Dominic didn’t panic; he acted promptly like a man that has seen a lot. He gently ushered the now-shivering Matthew upstairs and told him to go in the bathroom. In the meantime, Dominic went in his room to search for some warm clothes. Upon entering the bathroom, he was surprised to find Matthew sat hunched up on the toilet, tiny drops falling from his long tufts, sad cerulean eyes focusing on a distant, invisible world.

“Matt, get off the wet clothes, you’ll catch a cold!” Dominic cried out worriedly, placing the change of clothes on the washing machine and stepping up to the trembling brunet.

He helped Matthew to stand and put his hands on the weak shoulders. Matthew seemed to realise the situation as he looked in Dominic’s reassuring eyes. He blushed and bowed his head with embarrassment, his tiny pink tongue lapping up a stray raindrop at the corner of his mouth. 

“We’ll talk after you take a good, warm bath, yeah?” Dominic said and the confusing little man before him nodded wordlessly.

The blonde boy closed the door behind himself and headed to his room.  He resumed his position at the window and noted with surprise how quickly it grew d ark in those days. There was still enough light to distinguish the shape of thousands of raindrops settled on the window, blurring the image of the surrounding world. Dominic drew random patterns with his index finger, mesmerised by the infusion of the gentle sounds and spots of surreal colours created by Mother Nature.

“Dom…I think I’ll go home now,” a weak voice announced behind the blonde.

“What? No, stay, please! What happened, Matty? You know you can tell me everything!” Dominic insisted, leading his friend to the comfortable bed situated beside the window.

The brunet shivered at a memory crossing his mind, but he just flicked with his hand, muttered “It’s lame. You’ll laugh at me” and drew in, looking even more fragile and vulnerable as he zipped up the training jacket.

Dominic slipped closer to Matt and assured him again of his understanding; he hoped that his eyes were much more expressive than his gawky gestures and words. In the meantime, his left hand, which was resting on the back of the sofa, slowly made its way to the brunet’s back and the fingers started rubbing soothing circles.  Dominic was surprised at how natural and easy it felt, despite the tiny butterflies of nervousness fluttering in the pit of his stomach. It seemed that his massage made its effect because Matthew started talking: 

“I was home practising on the piano; you know I like playing when it’s raining, it helps me keeping the tempo. So I played the _Raindrop Prelude_ over and over, and when I glanced at the clock I noticed that I was already late. I dressed up quickly and left the house, but unfortunately, I chose the shorter way.”

Dominic’s stomach clenched in anticipation; that road crossed an obscure neighbourhood from which they always stayed away as much as possible. However, he also calmed because he thought the source of Matthew’s misery was the boy’s parents who had been fighting very frequently in the last month.

“Did somebody pick at you there?” Dominic asked anxiously, his mouth becoming dry in a few seconds.

Matt nodded slowly, bringing his knees to his chest and clasped them with his arms. He put his head on his knees and continued reminiscing with closed eyes:

“I was very careful, I thought I’d manage to pass unseen, but Jacob and his stupid gang accosted me at a honky-tonk.”

The blonde’s boy eyes widened with fear and his grip tightened on Matt’s shoulder as he heard the name. They were criminals, the nightmares of their little town. Dominic drew even closer; he hoped that his presence would be soothing.

“One of the giants grabbed at my collar and my attempts to escape were in vain,” Matthew whispered, “then they started mocking my clothes and hustling me around; I talked back that I can’t have cool rags because I am not a thief like them.”

“Gracious, Matt,” Dominic sighed.

He was very worried for his skinny friend and thought that it was foolish to quip headfirst like that with his built and with the superiority in numbers of his adversaries, but at the bottom of his heart he also felt proud. Dominic liked to call the brunet _“Little Rebel”_ , for he always defended others’ and his rights and he hated any kind of injustice. 

“Luckily, the dummies were so surprised by my reply that I managed to get free and ran away as fast as I could,” Matt concluded with watery eyes, his fists clenching tightly.

Dominic was now hugging Matthew with his left hand and he placed his head on the brunet’s while asking: “Did they push you down or how did you ruin your trousers?”

Matt scooted closer to the blonde and answered in a hushed manner: “No, I fell down when I was dashing to you,” but his quivering voice foreshadowed the sobbing that broke from his chest.

“Don’t cry, Matty, you’re safe now,” Dominic said worriedly, taking Matt in his arms and rubbing his back.

The blonde boy didn’t care in that moment that his attributes as a friend were crossed; he didn’t stop whispering soothing words, especially when Matt’s fists were holding so tightly onto his shirt. However, he was surprised to hear that his friend was crying because of a completely different reason:

“But, Dom, they are right! I do wear the ugliest clothes and I know everybody mocks me because of it!” Matt exclaimed, his tears flowing ceaselessly while he tried to extricate himself from the blonde’s hold.

“Silly boy,” Dominic muttered as he placed his friend’s light body on his lap, his strong arms encircling Matthew and his lips pressing sweet kisses on the top of his friend’s still slightly wet hair, before continuing: “Have you ever heard any comment from me on that topic? Do you know me as a person who judges people by their attire?”

Matthew sobbed on Dom’s chest, blushing at the sight of the shameful stains he left on the grey shirt. His fingertips brushed gently over them, his wide eyes looking meekly into Dominic’s . The blonde teenager’s gaze fell to the long fingers that were spread on the middle of his torso and gulped nervously. _What could that mean? Is it only a friendly gesture or maybe more?_ Thoughts of this nature ran in his head and by the time he decided to make a move, Matthew took his hands away; he missed again the perfect moment. He bowed his head in disappointment, how could he be so cowardly? 

“No, you’ve always been good to me, Dominic. Too good actually,” the brunet concluded silently, tangling his fingers absentmindedly in soft, golden locks, “I don’t think I can ever repay your kindness,” he whispered and leaned in to kiss Dom’s flushed cheek.

The unexpected gesture made the blonde boy look into his friend’s electric blue orbs, even though he knew how unstrung he must have been looking. They stared at each other intensely, both waiting for the confirmation in the other’s eyes. Dominic’s fingers travelled to Matthew’s nape and stroked the sensitive skin he found there, smiling bashfully when he felt goose bumps forming under his touch. However, his smile turned into a surprised expression when Matt mirrored him and smirked at Dom shivering, both realising how responsive their bodies were when in the other’s care.

Matthew leaned in while Dominic braced himself up and cupped the lovely face in front of him, watching attentively as Matthew closed his eyes. His dark lashes fluttered when Dominic’s thumbs stroked his blushing cheeks and his breathing sped up in anticipation. 

Finally, Dom closed the distance between them, placing a little kiss on Matt’s waiting lips. He was about to sit back (he would have probably run away if Matt wasn’t sitting in his lap), but the brunet put his arms around Dom’s neck and held him close. Matthew brushed his nose against Dom’s and continued kissing the tempting lips, whimpering in pleasure when Dominic’s tongue drew the form of his lower lip. 

Despite the initial euphoria, fear moved in Dominic’s heart when his friend hid his face in the crook of the blonde boy’s neck and started shuddering like a stray, helpless leaf in the middle of a high wind. He would be sick just at the thought that he forced Matthew into anything that his friend didn’t want to do; for several minutes while Matthew didn’t look at him, Dominic almost convinced his pounding heart that the brunet only kissed him to “pay back his kindness” as he said earlier. Finally, he mustered his courage and began talking in a quivering voice:

“You know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to; I’m sorry if I ever gave the impression of expecting something in return.” Matt nudged Dom with his nose to continue the monologue, “I may feel more, Matthew, but friendship is the most important thing and I have no idea how life would be without you. You’re my best friend and I hope that won’t ever change.” 

Matthew shivered at hearing the touching confession, but before answering Dom, he grabbed the fluffy blanket from the other end of the sofa and wrapped it around a wide-eyed Dom and himself. He giggled at the astonished expression of his friend and placed an affectionate peck on the blonde’s nose, giggling as he hugged again the person who meant the world to him. Matthew decided it was time to express his feelings after Dominic’s honesty:

“First of all: who said I don’t want more?” he pressed his cheek to Dom’s and continued: “Of course, I’m already extremely happy to call you my best friend, but if you’re willing to put up with me…” He blushed bashfully, stroking the back of Dom’s head.

“Put up with you? Are you serious?!” Dominic kissed all over Matt’s grinning face, their fingers exploring locks of hair, patches of skin they’d only dreamed about.

“Can I keep your hoodie?” Matthew asked timidly while inhaling the scent of the turquoise fabric, “It smells like you, so at least I won’t feel so lonely at home.”

The blonde wrapped his arms even tighter around his friend; he only felt close enough to Matt when he couldn’t distinguish their heartbeats any more.

“’Course you can, however, you’re so wrong if you think that I’ll let you go home,” Dominic giggled mischievously, worshipping Matt’s pale neck with sweet kisses while murmuring: “You call your parents and tell them that you can’t go home in such a storm. Besides, you haven’t stayed overnight for quite some months…”

“Sounds like a really good cover story. Luckily, only we know what’s going on under the covers,” Matthew snickered cheerily, placing his head on the firm chest so that he could hear Dominic’s heartbeat.

The lively rhythm of the muscular organ coincided with the drumming of the raindrops on the window: at first it was wild, passionate, deafening until something gradually calmed it; outside it was the coolness of the night while inside Matt’s sapphire eyes brought peace to the blonde’s throbbing core. Dominic’s heartbeat became mellow and even, just like a real, soft English rain.


End file.
